Pantry Pests do not generally carry disease but it can be very unappealing to find them in your kitchen and in the food you’ve been eating. There are a large number of species that infest a variety of products. Some of the most common ones are summarized below.

Sawtoothed Grain Beetles and Merchant Grain Beetles

• A slender dark brown to black beetle 2.5 – 3mm with jagged edges on the thorax
• This beetle lays 40 – 280 eggs in a lifetime that span 6 to 10 months but can live as long as 3 years.
• They live in food stored grains such as cereal and nuts, spices, chocolate, and seeds.

Cigarette and Drugstore Beetles

• Both of these species approximately 1/10 inch in length, reddish-brown in colour and oval shaped
• Adults live 2- 4 weeks and the females lay up to 100 eggs.
• They are good fliers and are often found on window sills as they attempt to make their way outside
• The cigarette beetle eats tobacco seeds, dried flowers, dried fish and leather goods

Indian and Mediterranean Meal Moths

• Adults are 8 – 10mm long, outer half of their wings are dark grey or copper coloured with tan or yellowish-grey upper half of their wings.
• Indian Meal Moths are the most commonly found pests stored in grains.
• Larvae of these pests mainly eat grains, grain products, dried fruits, nuts, cereals and a variety of processed food products.
• An Indian Meal Moth lays 100 – 300 eggs in their lifetime and they are easy to recognize compared to other similar species.

Mediterranean Flour Moths

• The adults of this species are 12 mm long with dark zigzag markings across the wings.
• They have the same diet as Indian Meal Moths and the females eat 120 – 680 eggs in their lifecycle.

Flour Beetles

There are many species of Flour Beetles, however, the most common are the Red Flour Beetle and Confused Flour Beetle.

• Flour beetles are small 3-6mm long and reddish-brown in colour.
• Flour beetles attack stored grains including flour, cereal, nuts, pasta, beans and many other food products.
• Flour beetles are a major pest in the agricultural and food processing industry. They quite often make their way into our homes in the goods we purchase.